Welcome to Part Four of the Rise of the Grigori Beneath-the-Surface series. I have a guest writer for this week’s post: Narcissa kor’Adonia, Opal Princess of Sirenia, the island home of my mermaid race, the undines. She’s here to give us the inside scoop on what her cousin Calandra is really like. Enjoy!

Interview with Narcissa kor’Adonia, Opal Princess of Sirenia:

I never wanted to be a princess, but you don’t get to choose who you’re born as. It’s a lot of pressure, I’m not going to lie. But there are a few perks. For instance, no one really expects me to step out of line—which makes it easier to hide the times I do. After all, I’m the good one, not like my cousin Calandra. She has everyone fooled into thinking she’s so perfect, but not me. I can see right through her. All she wants is to take what’s mine, and I won’t stand for it.

Just because she’s a panacea, capable of healing in all three disciplines—stone, plant, and physic—everyone thinks she’s the best thing since we discovered avocadoes. They think she’s going to save the undines. As if. She’s so powerful, she’s bound to go crazy any day now, and then where will we be?

I keep watching for signs that she’s cracking, like our great-ancestor Nadia, the panacea who sank Atlantis. Sometimes, I think it’s started—like she’s hearing voices in her head. But no one believes me when I tell them how dangerous she is. My mother, Queen Adonia, keeps telling everyone how Calandra is the “Saviour of the Heartstone.” If I’m not careful, Mother is going to name Calandra heir to the throne instead of me. Then we’d be doomed, for sure. Especially since Calandra hates me.

Which is why I have to be good. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make Calandra’s life a misery. After all, she deserves it for taking all of Mother’s attention and making sure she always gets the best of everything.

I’ve had my victories, though—like stealing her favourite doulos for my bodyguard. The one she liked to hang around with so much when we were kids, back before he was tamed by Redemption. Sometimes I think she actually had feelings for him… but that would be crazy. You don’t have feelings for men. When they’re Redeemed, it would be like loving a post, and when they’re not… well, they’re much too dangerous to be around.

That’s why undine sirens Redeem all the men they capture with sirensong before the siren pods even climb aboard their human ships. It’s been that way for thousands of years, and, if I have any say, that will never change. Besides, freeing a Redeemed man is worth the death penalty, and even Calandra isn’t that stupid.

If only I could figure out a way to show everyone how underhanded she really is.

Wait. I think I’ve got something…

Want to know what Narcissa thought up? Read The Undine’s Tear.

Thank you to Jen Baxter of Character Madness and Musings for hosting the original post.

Next week: Some of the many seed ideas that became the Rise of the Grigori world. PLUS a gift for you.

In this series:

Part One: Introducing the Rise of the Grigori series

Part Two: Where the idea for this series came from

Part Three: Author Interview and a peek beneath Calandra’s bed